POTENTIAL LANDMARK CASE GOES TO TRIAL PITTING G14 VS. FIFA

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Belgian First Division club Charleroi, backed by G14, began its trial against FIFA today, arguing that clubs should be compensated if a player is hurt while on international duty. The case centers on Moroccan defender Abdelmajid Oulmers, who was hurt playing against Burkina Faso in 2004 and subsequently missed the entire season. Charleroi charges that his absence cost them a chance to win the division.

A spokesman for G14, a consortium of the 18 richest clubs in Europe, told the BBC: “If the court rules for Charleroi the benefits apply to every club not just the G14.”

FIFA claims there is no link between the Oulmers’ injury and Charleroi’s finish,  stating that national associations should reimburse since 75 percent of the profits from major tournaments are returned to national associations.

Depending on the outcome, the case could be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The last major case in football to be referred to the EU court also started in Belgium. The "Bosman" ruling, after a case brought by Jean-Marc Bosman, gave players the power to move freely between clubs when they were out of contract, increasing player power.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter vehemently opposed the court case. FIFA fears that G14 is trying to stop the release of players to play for their national teams.

“If they (G14) want war, they will have it,” Blatter said during a visit to open the new headquarters of the Tunisian football federation earlier this week.

The chairman of the Swedish FA Larsake Agrell echoed those concerns.

“I am very worried,” Agrell told local newspaper Aftonbladet. “What the G14 wants is that every club decides themselves if their players are going to join up with the national team. At the moment this decision lies with FIFA. In the future it can turn out that our national coach Lars Lagerbäck wants to pick a player but the player’s club is demanding too much money and that we can’t afford to call up that player to our national team.”

In another G14 matter, Jose Luis Arnaut, leading a European Union review of the current state of the game, told Reuters that, “The G14 is a reality and is a fact of football which must be accepted. They are a stakeholder in the game and have a right to have their say.”

In the past, FIFA has refused to acknowledge the group as legitimate.

“We need to have a definition of how football should be run at all levels from the bottom to the very top,” Arnaut said. “At one end it is a social model, but at the other end it is a business model and this is very difficult to work with. But we do need to have a balance.”